Midnight Challenge
by L'Archel-Hotishi
Summary: Mayura tricks Koutarou into coming on a ghost hunt with him. As the night goes on and the hunt loses momentum, the relationship between the two becomes more and more strained. Hidden feelings surface in the most inconvenient places. MayuKou. Fluff.


Title: Midnight Challenge

Pairing: Mayura x Koutarou

Disclaimer: I do not own Matantei Loki Ragnarok, its characters, or its setting. Please only credit me for the fanfiction itself.

Rating: K

Author's Note: I'm so slooooow at writing. Sorry!  
Enjoy!

(This should probably be divided up into chapters, but then I'll forget to update. Sorry if it's a little lengthy and choppy, but I kinda just wanted this to be a oneshot, haha!)

**-START-**

The time had finally come. After weeks of scratching off the days on the calendar taped above her desk, the fated day had finally reared its head.

After leafing through dozens of horoscope magazines and doing all the paranormal research she could manage in her high school library, the girl had finally determined the perfect day for her first official ghost hunt. All the details concerning the lunar cycle and school hours lined up perfectly for her benefit. According to the occult magazines she'd read at the gas station, lunar cycles were very important when hunting ghosts. She chose the last day of the month when there would be a full moon in the sky, only a few days before the next solstice, as the day she would venture out into the night and try her luck at hunting the spirits of the dead. It was perfection, and Daidouji was rather proud of herself for concocting the mission without any help.

She'd first gotten the idea planted in her bubblegum head to go ghost hunting while watching television at Enjaku, again disturbing Loki while he was trying to work on a case. There was a show on television about people getting locked inside a supposedly haunted building for a night and recording all the ghostly evidence they came across. Loki insisted it was fake, but Mayura was entranced.

Immediately after leaving the agency, the young woman went and purchased all the supplies she needed, like a voice recorder and extra batteries for her camera. All that she needed was a trusty sidekick to accompany her on her quest.

Of course, Loki and Yamino disagreed, one much more politely than the other. Heimdall, Freyr, Reiya…none of them were free for the adventure she had dubbed so cleverly, "The Midnight Challenge."

Her last hope was no doubt the one she knew would be harder to convince, even more so than Loki.

At school the next day, she waited until the teacher had finally placed the chalk down and dismissed class before rushing to the blonde man's side, ruby eyes large as she looked up at him as sweetly as possible.

"_Kou_," she said in singsong, "Have a moment to chat?"

He furrowed his brows and looked down at her. The longer he stared, the more difficult it was for Mayura to keep up her cutesy act without feeling foolish. When he reached out and flicked her forehead, that's when the woman cracked. "Ouch! What was that for, you meanie!"

"You want something," he said, turning back to his desk and piling his books into his suitcase. "Just tell me. What is it?"

She puffed out a cheek and rounded the desk to look at him squarely in the face. "A ghost hunt!"

Koutarou stopped and looked up at her slowly. His eyes were half-lidded, the lack of amusement clear on his visage. "I didn't hear you."

"Yes you did," she said, pink smile widening.

Koutarou turned back to his desk briskly.

Mayura laughed loudly, thinking he was simply playing hard to get. "Oh, don't be like that! Come on, please?"

The man sighed and lifted his suitcase, letting one arm hang at his side while he planted the other on his hip. He cleared his throat and focused on her face. "You want to go on a ghost hunt? Really? I assume you got this idea from watching some silly reality show on television, correct?"

She made a sound that Koutarou assumed was the sound one might hear on a game show when someone answers a question correctly. Not sticking around to find out, he began to walk away, yawning loudly. "Find someone else, Mayura."

"Please!" she asked chasing after him and grabbing his bicep, tugging him back. The action was enough to surprise him and make him turn around. Again, she employed her best puppy dog eyes. "If you don't come with me, I'll have to go alone…"

"Mayura…" he said, guilt striking him like lightning. Koutarou was far from stupid, and knew that it was far too dangerous for her to be in any building alone at night. For the reason she was going, he assumed it would be abandoned as well. The man wondered if she'd bothered to reveal that small detail to anyone else, or if he was the first one who'd heard.

With a creased brow and a moan of irritation, he turned to her and took a scrap of paper and pen from his bag. "Here. Write down the date and time, and I'll pick you up at your house."

Her face lit up like a firework. If they hadn't been in public, her powerful embrace would have knocked him on the ground.

XOXOXOXOXO

"What in the world is he doing here?"

Koutarou was looking at Mayura with an incriminating gaze with his finger pointed angrily at the other man standing beside them. He was smiling, as usual, albeit he looked incredibly tired. Koutarou could only imagine why, due to all the part-time jobs he had, plus school.

"Well, I knew Narugami would come," she said. "Plus, I promised him dinner!"

Koutarou turned to leave, but was halted but a tug on the sleeve of his coat.

"Please, Koutarou! Don't be angry!"

"Why shouldn't I be?" he asked, ripping his sleeve from her grasp. "You lied to me. You told me that you would come here alone if I didn't come with you. Clearly, I'm just wasting time I could better spend on something or, frankly, _someone_ else."

Mayura's eyes got teary as the blond man turned to go. Narugami watched the scene from afar and couldn't help chuckling. "C'mon, Mayura! If he's going to be that big of a jerk and back out on a promise he made to you, then we don't need him coming along!"

Both teens froze. Mayura turned towards Narugami with interest. Koutarou's look was far icier as he swiveled around and glared at the thunder god. "Excuse me?"

Narugami shrugged and looked away from the duo, spinning his faithful Mjollnir in his hand the way a cheerleader would twirl a baton. "You promised her you'd come, right? It would be really awful of you if you broke that promise. Besides, so what if I'm here? Why does it matter so much that another person is here?"

The hazel-eyed god stopped twirling the sword and flung it over his shoulder. He turned and gave Koutarou a smug smile. "Or maybe you're just mad because you don't get to be alone with Daidouji."

For the first time Mayura could recall, she saw Koutarou turn bright red.

"That's idiotic," Koutarou scoffed, turning his head and laughing at how ridiculous the other man's statement was. "I was under the impression she'd be alone. With someone else here, clearly I'm not needed."

"Maybe you're just _wanted_," Narugami suggested. "Ever think of that? Daidouji is your friend, after all. It's true she lied, but maybe that's because she knew that was the only way she could get you to spend time with her. Forgive her for trying to help you become a decent human being."

That statement made him shut up. Almost like how a child would look to their parent for validation, Koutarou looked toward her, seeking the truth. The pink-haired woman looked back at him, then to Narugami, and giggled softly.

"Does that matter?" she asked, knocking the side of her head playfully with her fist. Her face was as pink as her hair.

It was Narugami's turn to shrug.

"I think it's about time we start the investigation!" the thunder god said, turning towards the building and pointing his sword as if he was about to challenge it to a duel. "Let's raid this place and get all those damn ghosts on video, sell the footage, and get famous and rich!"

Having moved on from the mild embarrassment she suffered from before, Mayura mimicked Narugami's action with great enthusiasm. "Yeah, let's do it!"

Both pumped their fists in the air, mighty and determined.

While Koutarou's face with still bright red, at least he was now aware of the thunder god's motive.

XOXOXOXOXO

Narugami was hardly afraid of any ghosts, but the atmosphere of their chosen destination was making him shiver a tad. Now that he was looking at it, the abandoned cigar factory was much creepier than anything Narugami had anticipated when he'd agreed to Mayura's ghost hunt.

While Koutarou refused to admit defeat, he wouldn't deny that the building was chilling. The man kept a fist firmly planted in front of his mouth, pretending to be smug and calm.

Mayura was the only one jumping for joy.

"Let's go!" she cheered, spinning like a ballerina and then leaping up to the old door. She forced it open and went inside.

"Hey, don't go too far!" Koutarou shouted, running after her. Narugami fumbled with the supplies and desperately ran after them.

"Wait up!" he almost whined, trailing behind the two mortals with frantic urgency.

Mayura and Koutarou waited for Narugami in a small hallway just past the main entryway. The place was barren except for a few rotting two-by-fours and the occasional dead bird. The walls and floor were made of cement and whatever equipment had been used in the past had been cleared out. The plumbing was also completely ripped out, leaving only holes in the walls and ceiling for mice to peek through. With walls made of nothing but cement and brick, the building was so cold that they were shocked to not see a layer of ice coating the interior.

"Um…how long are we going to be here, exactly?" Koutarou asked, hugging his blazer closer to fend off against the chill in the air. Mayura turned and hummed in thought, finger tracing her jawline.

"I was thinking until four in the morning."

A certain part-timer clicked his tongue in disdain.

"Not me," Narugami chimed in with a raised hand. His tone was salty. "I have to work early in the morning, which means I have to be in bed by two at least!"

Koutarou turned to him, irritated by the lack of logic behind Narugami's decision. "Why the hell are you attending a late night ghost hunt if you have to work early?"

Narugami snickered at Koutarou's statement, making a silly face that the blonde man found almost infuriating enough to warrant a kick.

The thunder god whispered mockingly, "Oh, there's that jealousy again."

"You wish," Koutarou snapped, causing Narugami to laugh and mimic the childish retort with a voice more than a few octaves high. The verbal scrimmage was missed by Mayura, who was far too busy looking around the area in amazement. The creepiness was entrancing and already her heart was thumping with anticipation of what might lay ahead.

"This place is awesome!" she shouted. "Let's start right away!"

Both nodded in return and waited their orders. They assumed she had ideas of what she wanted them to do. When Mayura pulled a list out of her coat pocket, they knew they'd assumed correctly. Both sighed as she clutched the paper and cleared her throat.

"Narugami, you'll be staying in the main room," she said, pointing a finger into the room they'd just come from. "You'll be watching the entrance to make sure nobody else comes in. Also, you'll be our main communication center. We'll call you if anything happens."

"_We'll _call?" Koutarou repeated, looking at her from out of the corner of his eye.

"You and I are going to be investigators!" Mayura said with a large smile. "If something goes wrong, we need a main base to communicate with and come back to."

"I don't have a say?" Kakinouchi asked lethargically, and Mayura shook her head. Narugami watched the two and, when there was a break in the conversation, the thunder god raised his hand like he was sitting in school. Mayura, perplexed, pointed to him and nodded inquisitively.

"Um, yes, Narugami?"

"How do I call you?" he asked.

Both teens blinked.

"You don't have a cell phone?" Koutarou asked. When Narugami shook his head, he stuck his hand in his pocket and groped around for a few seconds. The man pulled out a cell phone and slammed it on the table. "Here, use mine. Mayura is one of my contacts."

"Since you don't have a phone, I guess that means we'll have to stay together the entire time," Mayura said. "You know, for safety."

Koutarou nodded reluctantly, knowing that the coincidence was simply going to add fuel to Narugami's taunting fire.

"You guys gets the cameras all set up and I'll go place the audio recorders!" Narugami said, readily volunteering to go off on his own. Apparently he wasn't scared of the building anymore now that they'd been inside for a few minutes. Perhaps it was his short attention span or his complete disregard for small details. Neither teen was about to do the task themselves, so they handed him the recorders readily. He darted off, leaving Mayura and Koutarou to fiddle with batteries, flash settings, and determining how they'd carry all the cameras Mayura had brought with only four hands.

XOXOXOXOXO

Narugami was ready and waiting in the main entryway, hazel eyes attentively watching the cell phone that sat in the corner of the table.

Meanwhile, Koutarou and Mayura ascended the stairs together to investigate the second floor. As they walked, Koutarou wondered what should happen if they were caught. No doubt the repercussions would be pretty huge. They were trespassing, after all.

The other thought on his mind was how exactly Mayura had picked the location. Was the place actually haunted, or had she simply chosen a local building that she knew was empty? He could have probably asked her, but it wasn't important. She seemed excited, and that was sufficient enough for him. Maybe they'd get lucky and find something that was actually paranormal. If they didn't, that was fine too.

He'd play along, and perhaps he'd even become invested by the end of the night. He was open to the idea.

"Where first?" he asked when they reached the top step.

Mayura looked around, taking in her surroundings before pointing to a dark room down the hall to the right. It looked like it had been a lounge long ago. Maybe not a lounge, since it was an old factory, but some kind of meeting space.

The two entered the damp space. Mayura spun around in awe, while Koutarou remained stone-faced and indifferent. On the inside, he was still terrified of the building and confused about what had happened earlier.

"Kou?" she asked, looking to him joyfully. "Can you take some pictures? I bet tons of ghosts are in this room!"

It was almost comical how wide and sparkly her eyes were.

Not seeing a reason why he couldn't, he grabbed one of the cameras Mayura had brought along and began snapping away in whatever direction the young woman pointed. The session went on for about five minutes before Koutarou playfully swore to her than he'd probably taken a picture of every square inch of the room. Mayura didn't let him off easily, but did eventually give in when he mentioned the possibility of the device running out of storage data early into the night.

Koutarou stuffed the device back into his trouser pocket, only looking away for one moment when he heard a loud bang.

The bang was followed by a squeal of surprise, and another sound reminiscent of something like a bag of flour hitting a hard floor. The man searched the dark room for the source of the noise, assuming it was Mayura.

The woman, as he expected, was the source of the noise. Contrary to what he believed, however, the noise did not come from her tripping or anything else clumsy. She'd merely bumped into a small pile of sandbags on the floor, probably left over by the last crew who'd worked in the building. It wasn't like they were valuable enough to return for.

"Mayura…" he said, "Be more careful."

Upon finding her, the woman was distracted by something she'd seen out the window, ignoring the sandbags she'd knocked over.

"What now?" he asked, rolling his eyes.

"Nothing," she mumbled, turning back to him. Her smile was sincere, but Koutarou noticed that there seemed to be something sad about it. He'd seen her smile a million times, and he could tell this one was different from the others. Concerned, he blindly stepped forward.

Seconds later, pain sent him spiraling to the ground.

His ankle bent over the sandbags. The joint rolled severely. Threads of stinging pain up and down his leg left him cursing silently. Stunned, Mayura looked over his crumbled form. "Kou! You should have been paying attention!"

_Cruel irony,_ he thought to himself, seething with agony.

Mayura bent down and offered him a hand. He accepted and she yanked him to his feet, unable not keep herself from giggling. "Usually you're not one to lose your concentration so easily, Kou!"

He nodded, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, well, nobody's perfect."

"But you like to think you are," Mayura said, laughing when the man clearly flinched in response to her harsh words. "Kidding, kidding!"

Her laughter died down slowly, leaving nothing but awkward silence between the two.

The two stayed quiet for a long while, not knowing whether to talk or simply look around the room independently. Koutarou shuffled about, excitement fading. His earlier, sarcastic remarks had left him second-guessing if how he'd acted was acceptable. Deep down, he knew it probably hadn't been.

After a few hours of wandering on the second floor, the two returned to the same room, finding that it was the largest and also the most spacious. The majority of the time, the two had stayed quiet. While he'd come along to help Mayura out, he was starting to get impatient with the uneventfulness of the night. The way things were going, they might as well have not come. He made that perfectly clear to Mayura over and over, his intention being to convey irritation. To her, it conveyed more.

"Um, more pictures?" Koutarou asked as they re-entered the old room. Mayura nodded wordlessly, eliciting another groan from Koutarou as he continued to snap pictures of every remotely suspicious corner or abandoned object.

He then stuck the camera in his pocket as a sign of surrender.

After more than a few grumbles from the blonde teen, Mayura finally spoke up and said, "Um…if you want, you can go."

"Huh?" he asked, head flicking over to meet hers.

"I know you probably have better things to do," the woman said, heaving a sigh heavy enough to make her shoulders slump. "And no offense, but I'm getting tired of pretending to not notice how much fun you're not having."

He was amazed. Usually Mayura was optimistic and always covered her disappointment and fear with a big, happy smile and enthusiastic go-getter personality. However, seeing her so cynical was like a wake-up call. The night had started off well enough, if he recalled correctly.

Perhaps it had been his very sudden and rude change in attitude when facing the actual tenacity of the task at hand.

If he'd been investigating the mansion with Loki, Reiya, or anyone else for the matter, he would have been making snarky comments the whole time. Hell, he would have probably found a way to make his own fun. He wondered for a moment why being with Mayura was so different.

"Well, that's true," he began slowly, looking away in shame. "I'd prefer to not be here, but hey, I'm not disappointed."

She lifted her head curiously, the room illuminated each time just enough by passing cars to make their bodies and faces clear to each other for a few seconds at a time. "Don't lie. If you were with anyone but me, you'd probably find a way to make your own fun, right?"

She's pinned him like a butterfly on a labeled corkboard.

"Narugami and I will finish looking around ourselves," she said, turning back to the window. "So…yeah. Don't feel back or anything. It's okay."

The blond man haplessly took a step towards her, but stopped. Angered with his own selfishness, the man turned to face the door. His eyes stayed glued to the exit, but he did not advance towards it.

"I don't know why," he said. "I don't know why I'm acting so different. It's a little confusing. Out of everyone, you're the one I'd want to be here the most with, but I can't even pull myself together for more than a few hours."

Mayura didn't move or speak. "Well…that's no excuse."

"I know," he said slowly, finally turning to gaze at the back of her still-turned head. His voice was not the least bit irritated. "I know."

He'd only taken a few steps to walk out when Mayura had whirled around and chased him. Her hand groped in the darkness of his shoulder, swiveling him around just in time for a flash of light from the highway to illuminate her expression. "Wait! You're not leaving."

The man, again, blinked in confusion. It was a reoccurring theme for the evening, but it was hard to not when he kept witnessing surprise after surprise.

"You're not leaving early at all," she said, retrieving the camera he'd stuck in his pocket and thrusting it against his chest. "You're going to help me, and enjoy doing it every step of the way! Think of it as an indirect apology to me, but it'll be much more productive."

The man took the camera and looked at her again and again, checking to see if she was joking. When that same determined look didn't leave her face after a dozen or so glances, he chuckled.

"You must really be passionate about this ghost-hunting thing," he said. Mayura stepped back and crossed her arms. She was far from impressed with his aloof attitude.

"Well, you're pretty nice and useful once you get over yourself," Mayura said. "I think maybe you just did."

"Do you?"

She laughed and poked his nose. "Maybe a little."

"I'll take it," he said with his usual, cocky laugh.

XOXOXOXOXO

The night ended uneventfully, but Koutarou's spirits had risen substantially. The remaining hours had been as snarky and sarcastic as usual, but with better taste.

Mayura showed her appreciation multiple times with rather brazen declarations of thanks, including frequent hugs. Each time, Koutarou turned red and tried to nudge her off gently, franking thinking he deserved anything but her admiration.

As the sun rose, the two stumbled upon a snoozing Narugami in the main area.

After fifteen minutes of shaking and literal punching, the thunder god awoke from his deep slumber and the three crept out successfully after collecting all the equiptmnt. Mayura's dad remained blissfully unaware of his daughter's departure, and the other two faced very few challenges upon arriving home as well.

The night remained just a memory until later in the day, when the two teens decided to visit Enjaku later in the day. Upon opening the gate, the two could hear the sound of a very familiar detective laughing with a very familiar freeloader.

It was at that moment that Mayura and Koutarou recalled that, inside the room they'd been talking in, Narugami returned to earlier in the morning to collect something. Since he'd only placed one item around the factory, there was only one thing he'd still have possession of.

As if they were one being, they paled and rushed up the stairs to the study.

The door was almost splintered in two as it was pushed open, revealing Loki and Narugami giggling over one of the recorders from the investigation.

"Play it once more," Loki said, face split with a wide grin.

Narugami pressed a large, green button on the narrow device and another familiar voice filled the study.

"_I don't know why I'm acting so different. It's a little confusing. Out of everyone, you're the one I'd want to be here the most with, but I can't even pull myself together for more than a few hours."_

Laughter escaped the two gods again, unable to stop chortling at the uncharacteristic confession.

"Looks like Kou's feathers got ruffled," Loki said, yipping with each word. "How cute! Tell me, was the passion of the confession attempting to make up for the awful location?"

Growing pink, both reached out to grab the audio recorder and yank it back.

"I'm deleting everything on this," Koutarou fumed, bending over the damned device and pounding the red button with his thumb. Meanwhile, Mayura yelled relentlessly at the still laughing gods.

As Koutarou kept deleting the data, he felt guilty knowing that all the possible evidence Mayura had wanted would be gone forever. When he vocalized the concern, her response was simple and quick compared to her resounding criticism of the immature gods.

She returned his face, face still pink. Her mouth, however, reflected a smile. That time, Koutarou was certain it was sincere.

"Well, we'll just have to for another run!"

**-END-**

This literally took me months so I RUSHED to finish it. Holy s#*%.

It's finally done, YEEES!

Hope you enjoyed! Please R&amp;R, flames welcome (about my writing only. Nothing about the characters or original series because…you know…I didn't write those.)


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